FALSE STATEMENTS given to the CBI eventually led to the arrest of SP candidate for 2017 polls, Amanmani Tripathi, for the alleged murder of his wife Sara, who had died while she was on way to Delhi with her husband on July 9 last year. He was remanded in CBI custody for three days by a Delhi court Saturday.

This comes around nine years after his parents — former UP minister Amarmani Tripathi and Madhumani — were convicted for the murder of poetess Madhumita Shukla. SP had announced Amanmani as its candidate from Nautanwa seat of Maharajganj last month.

Sources in the CBI said Amanmani’s close aides corroborated Sara’s mother Seema Singh’s allegations that he wanted to get rid of his wife. Other evidence included loopholes in Amanmani’s statement about the car accident that he claimed had killed Sara and the call records of his and the victim’s cellphones.

Following Sara’s death, Amanmani had claimed their car met with an accident on National Highway-2 in Firozabad district. He had escaped unhurt in the alleged accident. Soon after, Amanmani, who was then absconding in a kidnapping case lodged against him in Lucknow in 2014, was arrested. He was in jail for six months before being released on bail.

Seema, however, refused to buy the accident theory and got a murder FIR lodged against Amanmani a week after the accident. The FIR, lodged at Sirsaganj police station in Firozabad, named Amanmani and his parents — currently lodged in Gorakhpur Jail. She wanted the case to be transferred to the CBI and the same was later recommended by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. The CBI took over the investigation in October last year.

“The arrest of Amanmani has corroborated my suspicion. It took almost an year for the CBI to lay hands on him. During investigation, the CBI questioned me and other family members, including my two sons and a daughter,” said Seema, who has been provided a police gunner by the state government.

“We did not hide anything… We told CBI how and under what circumstances Sara had got married to Amanmani at an Arya Samaj temple in Lucknow in July, 2013… Along with Amanmani’s parents, I was also against the marriage,” she added.

“My daughter’s murder was a big conspiracy, hence, I named Amarmani Tripathi and his wife Madhmani along with Amanmani in the FIR. UP Police, which investigated the case earlier, was under pressure and tried to prove that Sara died in an accident and there was no foul play. I believe the police had even stage-managed the postmortem report to help Amanmani,” Seema said.

She added: “After the FIR was lodged, I started noticing suspicious people around my house at Gomti Nagar in Lucknow. I regularly informed senior police officers. I am not afraid but Amanmani’s family has connections and can do anything… Despite the CBI probe pending against Amanmani, the SP government announced him as its candidate for UP polls. Now, after his arrest, SP should cancel his ticket.”

Thirteen years ago, Amarmani, a former UP minister, was arrested for orchestrating the murder of Madhumita Shukla who was pregnant then. The DNA test of the foetus had confirmed that Amarmani was the father of the child. Madhumani was went to jail for hiring shooters to kill Madhumita. The two, along with the shooters, were given life sentence by a Dehradun district court in 2007 following a CBI probe. The high court later on upheld the judgment.

After Amarmani’s conviction, Amanmani contested the 2012 Assembly elections on a SP ticket from Nautanwa in Maharajganj district, but lost.